RISK TAKERS

known that it’s not uncommon for
many companies to request a radius
restriction with the lease agreements
so that another business can’t come
in and sell the same products. While
this makes sense for some areas of
retail, most companies are open to
friendly competition.
LEASING
We’ve all probably wondered how
some of our favorite stores make
their way into West Acres. The mall
currently has a leasing manager that is
constantly in contact with any number
of companies that show interest
in having a presence. There isn’t a
waiting list, per se, but the mall is
constantly in a state of change when it
comes to tenants.
“I think the rule of thumb is that in
any 10 year period, 1/3 of stores will
completely turn over, 1/3 will stay the
same and the other 1/3 will remodel,”
said Heaton.
While you’ve always begged for
your favorite clothing store to hit
the hallways, you may not have
“We find that sometimes if you have
a number of stores in the same
category, all of those stores do better,”
explained Heaton. “You may be
looking for something specific and
go into a store but buy something
you weren’t thinking about. Then you
end up going to the other stores still
looking for the item that you originally
came for and potentially buying more
than you anticipated. So we find that a
little healthy competition helps.”
DAILY OPERATION
According to Barke, West Acres ranks
very high in overall cleanliness and
states that it’s the most important
thing for the mall. Each morning,
employees go through the mall
and make sure everything is up
and operational for tenant arrival.
Bathrooms are cleaned, windows are
wiped, entrances are swept, flowers
are watered and the parking lot is
picked up. Throughout the night, a
cleaning crew focuses on cleaning the
floor and other larger tasks.
Cleanliness is a constant battle
ROUGHLY
1 MILLION SQ FT
INCLUDING THE ANCHOR STORES
311 TREES
ON THE ENTIRE PROPERTY